The heavens opened during the half-time interval and rained hailstones down on the Wembley pitch.
Perhaps it was a portent of what was to come for Pompey in their quest to become the first side to successfully defend the Papa John’s Trophy.
They were second best throughout the opening 45 minutes and had Craig MacGillivray to thank for not being behind.
There was a vast improvement after the break and during extra-time, but neither side was able to make the breakthrough.
And it was the Ammies who came out on top in the penalty lottery, leaving Kenny Jackett to reflect on a largely frustrating afternoon.
The Blues boss said: “I thought that Salford had the first half, but from the second onwards, I felt that we were on top.
“It was good to see us create some chances and be in and around their box for the majority of that period.
“But what’s hurting us at the moment is when we are in control, we’re not able to score. For a 0-0 draw, there were a lot of opportunities.
“James Wilson was the main threat for them before the break, but there was nothing going the other way.
“The only good thing for us to come out of that first half was the score still being goalless, but we played well after that.
“We showed some intent and that’s something that – at times – we haven’t been showing in recent games.
“If we have that going forward, then results will come. We have to make sure – at the start of a big week – that our season doesn’t slip away.
“We need to recover well and dig deep over the next few days because we have to get over this quickly.
“We’re searching for victories because it’s not been a good run since the turn of the year and we generally haven’t done enough.
“There have been too many goals conceded from set-pieces, while we also haven’t been creative enough. So we do need to show that level of intent.”